Hoypus Hill and Ala Spit

Steve, Al, Bill, Ward, Linda, Chris, Carol, Rich (and I took the picture)

Nine of us showed up today, in spite of the awful weather we had all night long: lots and lots of rain and wind, making today's hike look very unpleasant. But still, as I said last week, you gotta just go with it and see what happens. We drove 45 miles south through a driving rain, making me even less optimistic about the day.

No rain, lots of soft light

But by the time we stepped out of the cars and began our hike, it was beautiful! Although there was no sunshine, there was also no rain. Hoypus Hill is one of our usual wintertime hikes, on Whidbey Island near Deception Pass. Here's a map of the place.

Hoypus Hill and Ala Spit

We started at Cornet Bay, right across from Goose Rock on this map, and hiked around the trails in the middle of the hill, before heading over to Ala Spit, that little finger on the right-hand side of the picture, which was actually accessible as the tide was going out, and there was very little wind as we settled down to have our lunch.

Our view from our lunch spot

You wouldn't know it to look at this picture, but it's NOT black and white. The sun was beginning to make an appearance, and the birds were coming out as well. We were entertained by oystercatchers, kingfishers, gulls, and even an eagle out on the Skagit Bay as we had lunch.

Looking out at the bay while the sky cleared

We enjoyed our lunch in full sun. You can see how the clouds just cleared away and made it very hard to get up and leave afterwards. We don't often linger over lunch during the winter, but we did today. And then it was finally time to start our return trip.

Our trails were well marked

Our final trail takes us by some wonderful Old Growth trees, which I always look forward to seeing. Today was no exception.

Big old tree and a beautiful sky

There is really no way to capture the magnificence of these trees, but that doesn't stop me from trying. This one just kept going up and up, making the end of a wonderful day even more enjoyable. We ended up going nine and a half miles and more than 1,000 feet up and down. I'm allowed to be tired, but I've got a meeting to go to tonight, so I'll stop this right here.
:-)